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Oxygen airglow

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This movie shows the way the oxygen airglow visible on Venus’ night side is evolving over time over the south polar region, as seen by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on board ESA’s Venus Express.

The single images composing the movie were obtained at 1.27-micrometre wavelength in April 2007, when the spacecraft was flying at about 65 000 km distance from the planet.

The remarkable nightglow emission of oxygen is not very frequent in the polar region and, when observed, it is possible to notice an even more rapid change of its apparent direction and overall evolution.